New Delhi: On the first anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370, Welfare Party of India called it as a blot in the history of India.
National president of Welfare Party of India Dr SQ Ilyas in a press release rebuked the claim made by the Modi government that the abrogation of article 370 was done to develop the valley and to integrate Kashmir with the rest of India. He said government should have taken the people of Kashmir, elected representatives and all the stakeholders into confidence before taking such a crucial step. On the contrary the entire valley was put under months-long lockdown without any internet and the government arrested thousands of Kashmiris including the activists and leaders, which further alienated humiliated and created a lot of mistrust.
Mr Ilyas said the state of J&K was divided and converted into a union territory and now a year later Modi government passed new domicile laws granting rights to non Kashmiris to vote and buy land there which is robbing the rights and privileges of the citizens belonging to the valley.
Mr Ilyas said this is an exercise with an aim of delimitation by creating new parliamentary and assembly constituencies to change the demography in the valley and is a great injustice to the only erstwhile Muslim majority state.
Mr Ilyas claimed that the Modi government has economically crippled the valley and the losses to the J&K economy since 5 August 2019 is estimated at Rs 40,000 crore.
He urged the Supreme Court to deliver justice to the multiple positions before the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutional validity of the abrogation of article 370.
WPI president asked Modi government to stop issuing domicile certificates to outsiders with a view to change demographic character of J&K and not cause a permanent damage for short term cold of electoral benefits.